this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Privacy

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What's the deal? I'm testing using https://coveryourtracks.eff.org Is it truly unique (and repeatable), or is it perhaps being randomized on every request?

I've tried normal Firefox, Mull, and IronFox. With and without jShelter.

I'm using my phone. Stock Android on a Pixel 7 Pro.

In DDG Browser I have a "nearly unique" fingerprint.

I installed CanvasBlocker and disabled privacy.resistFingerprinting in IronFox (since CanvasBlocker said to), and my fingerprint is still unique. I guess I'm not surprised since I think CanvasBlocker is designed to randomize canvas fingerprinting.

Any tips on having even a shred of privacy when browsing the web on Android?

#Update

The biggest identifying characteristics are screen size and user agent. User agent can be faked with an extension. I can't exactly change my screen size.

I don't know what exactly what I did, but I managed to improve to "nearly unique" in IronFox. I think all I did was install Cookie Autodelete. It's an extension I've used for a long time in Mull, and finally got around to installing it. Then I installed "User-agent Switcher" and chose a Chrome user-agent and now I'm back to "Unique". ๐Ÿค”

EFF mentioned Tor Browser having some other best anti-fingerprinting, so I tried installing that. "Unique Fingerprint". Again, maybe that's fine if it means it's randomized on every request. Does anyone know if that's the case? If part of the fingerprint is a hash of canvas data and WebGL data, etc. Then I can easily see your fingerprint being unique if a browser or an extension is intentionally fuzzing that data.

#Update 2

I tried Fennec with just jShelter, uBlock Origin, and Cookie AutoDelete (not that I think those last two matter).

Obtained a "randomized fingerprint" result. Success?

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[โ€“] p_consti@lemmy.world 18 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

For the screen size, it's not actually the screen but the window, which is why tor browser opens in a fixed window size. If you just maximize, even though many use 1080p monitors, your particular settings of your DE give you away (size of bars, window decorations, ...)

[โ€“] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[โ€“] p_consti@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Ah sorry, missed that, yeah mobile screens are kind of identifying, not sure if any browsers get around that

Cromite manages to randomize it for me in such a way that it's different every time I check, but I never notice anything myself

[โ€“] dxc@sh.itjust.works 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

What about popup view? If you change the window size every now and then it should be safe I assume.